The interconnect portion of an integrated circuit conventionally includes at least one metallization level, and, in general, a plurality of metallization levels, each including electrically conductive lines, for example metal lines such as lines made of copper, allowing the various components of the integrated circuit to be interconnected and/or connected to inputs/outputs of the integrated circuit.
To complete interconnection, the interconnect portion also generally includes one or more via levels located between the metallization levels and allowing certain of the metal lines to be connected together.
In certain cases, an interline dielectric region separating two metal lines may break down prematurely, in particular when these two lines are separated by a very small distance, for example equal to the minimum distance specified for the CMOS technology node used.
The more advanced the CMOS technology node, i.e. the smaller the minimum distance, the more critical this effect becomes.